What were the major effects of World War 2 on Australia?

Answer 1

Here is a web site that gives you a pretty extensive coverage of how WW2 impacted Australia.

http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/index.htm

AnswerDuring World War 2 women played an important role overseas and in the homefront and it changed and improved women?s place in the Australian society of today. Before the war few women followed careers. Most jobs for women were traditional roles such as nursing, secretarial or caring jobs.

Some women in World War 2 volunteered for the land army because all the men were away. So the Australian land army was set up to get girls to take the men?s places. They worked on farms at places like Mt Compass, Buckleboo and Gumeracha. They were looked after because they got free work clothes and food.

In the war women were cooks, stewardesses, transport drivers, signallers, coders, writers, cinematographer operators, visual signallers and there were girls working in classified sections. Others were trained as nurses and motor mechanics. The women go told they would never be permitted to go overseas but in 1941 the government announced that women would now be allowed to enrol in the armed forces. Only nurses would serve overseas and in battle zones. Some 300,000 women served in the army, navy and nursing corps, and a quarter of these served overseas.

The Women?s Royal Australian Naval Service was formed in 1941. They did not go overseas. They worked with communications. The Women?s Australian Auxiliary Air Force was also formed in 1941. They worked as radio communications and did mechanical repairs. Australian Women?s Army Service formed in 1941 if Australia was attacked they could fight but they could not replace the men fighting. The Australian Army Medical Women?s Service formed in 1942. They were nurses in Britain, Greece, North Africa, Malaya and Papua.

WAAF in 1941 had 29 women and 300 men. The WAAF put signs at universities reading ?if you are about to graduate, apply for a commission in the WAAF. Each person does a course from navigational and operations to accounts or equipment/

At home during the war women made up 40 per cent of the work force in munitions factories. Women worked in aircraft and ship building industries also they worked in industries doing mechanical and maintenance work all the women received training. Women also became tram conductors, bus drivers, taxi drivers, security guards, mail delivers, bread carters and meter readers. Women were paid lower wages then men. Many women hoped that these jobs would still be open to them after the war had ended but they were not.

World War 2 changed the lives of Australian women. Before the war women were housewives and mainly looked after the family and home. When the war started and the men left, women had to take the empty places of the men who were at war. They showed that they could manage work, family and home all together. Also proved that they could do as much work as a man does at his job and still get paid less.

I think that World War 2 improved the place of women in society for the better.

Answerbecause of ww2 Australia lost most of our links with great brittian and strenghtened with America. this is because the Brittian ships fell in mayla and Singapore and also brittan fell to japan.the australians felt that brittian wasnt strong enough and that is why we have a much more closer relatioship with America than Brittian. Answerww2 actually strengthened Australia's ties with America, as many were beginning to feel that Britain was too weak to depend on. the pm at the time mentioned this in his speech. by the end of the war, Australia was more or less a very strong ally to the US. AnswerWe Yanks that were there during the war gained a greater respect for Australia and the Australian people. AnswerWhen the Japanese went to war against the British Empire (as well as the Americans) at the end of 1941, much of the Australian military was involved in fighting in the Middle East and Africa, alongside the British Royal Army. Most of the remainder found itself reeling under the Japanese onslaught throughout Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific.

Generally, before World War II, Australia tended to look to Great Britain as a "parent" which could be relied upon in time of need, but under the circumstances particular to Australia in 1942, it was realized that Great Britain could not be of much help.

Some military assistance was obtained from the United States, establishing ties which still remain.

Australia set about to arm its own forces, and on the whole, did an amazing job, considering that whole industrial infrastructures had to be set up in a short time (here I will refer you to the stories of the development of the Australian AC-4 Sentinel Tank, the Australian Owen Submachine Gun, the development of the Boomerang fighter plane, the production of artillery, and also the building of ships, like the "Castle" -class corvette, etc.). It would seem that having been through such tribulations and coming out victorious gave Australia a great deal of national confidence, and a stronger national identity. Since World War II, Australia has been more of a world player in its own right, rather than simply being a member of the British Commonwealth.

AnswerWorld war 2 impacted on Australian society in many ways. Women played an important role on the homefront. Roles dominated by males prior to the outbreak of war began to be shared by females.

Air raid drills occured regularly in larger cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Compulsory black-outs were enforced to minimise the risk of obvious targets in the event of an air-raid.

Air raids in Broome and Darwin affected citizens physically and psychologically. The deaths and injuries that occured affected many locals. Women and children (Asian and White) were evacuated into the country. Aboriginal persons were disregarded and not thought of.

As a result of troops overseas, Australia became economically unstable. Resources taken for granted to make goods such as clothes, butter, milk, bread etc were in short supply, so rationing books were distributed in 1942. A purchase could only be approved with rationing tickets.

Governments during the war attempted to prevent panic by censoring newspapers, magazines and radio. During the raids in Darwin, hundreds were killed and injured, while the government claimed under 30 people were killed or wounded.

Australia's loyalties changed. During WW1 Australia's ties with the 'Mother Country', Britain were strong. Events in the Great Depression, the bodyline attempts in cricket had weakened the ties before the war. Britain wanted Australian force in Britain fighting. Troops were returned home, however, when Australia's PM John Curtin felt Australia was under threat of invasion.

America and Australia became very close. When Australian troops were under threat, American troops came to give us a hand. When American troops were in trouble, we helped them out.

The three Axis counries, Italy, Germany and Japan were despised by the majority of Australians, so during the war, Japanese, German and Italians were sent to internment camps as to prevent any spy networking.

At the beginning of the war, soldiers only enlisted if they wanted to. When enlistment numbers were low, conscription was enforced, and all men between 18 and 33 had to register.

AnswerIt was not only English speaking races that were allowed to fight. Indigenous Australians also got a chance and were able to fight. This gave them money food cloths able to be accepted in the white race after the war training; they had never had an opportunity like this before but after the war they were able to have alot more opertunity in Australians life than what they did befour the war. Answerwell firstly, as you know, thousands of young Australian men enlisted to fight, but not as fast as in the 1st world war. the horror of the first world war was still embeded in our minds, and many people were against it. infact the majority were agaist the idea of being apart of a war that had nothing to do with us! so Australia introduced conscription, but only if you were at a certain age and you fitted the basic health requirements, and Australia could only send these men to guard Australian territory incase of an invasion by the japs. the Japaneese had advanced far into Asia, and were around the area of Singapur and Indonesia. The Australian Government had its main army fighting in Europe and Africa at the time, and wanted to send the conscripted soldiers to fight at the front in Asia, but it was agaist the law. So they were very sneaky about it and claimed Papua New Guinea as theirs, because it didnt have a government and sent the majority of conscripts to fight against the well-trained japs at the kakoda track and other blood thirsty battles. Australia had the best conscript law, as towards the end of the war Germany made boys up to 13 yeard of age go to war, and also sent the old, blinde and sick because they were getting desperate. In classes of 30, only 2 13 year old boys came back from each on average. with the men of at war, the women were forced to take up jobs that were previously considered a mans job, such as working in factories doing numerous jobs and packing amunition. our bonds with the UK dies down because they didnt come and help us, whereas we built even strionger bonds with the US because they sent troops to our AID which helped our local economy a great deal. a rationing system was handed out where each aduly only got 112 coupons a year and each item of luxury costed a certain amount of coupons. there weer always bomb warnings and private and public bomb shelters were built. barb wire was put along the main beaches to prevent invasion and many many people died. AnswerJust wanted to make a few points from the above answer. It is incorrect to say that Australia just 'claimed' Papua New Guinea. Control of Papua New Guinea was actually awarded to Australia after the first world war. Also, theoretically, it wasn't against the law for Australia to send its troops back home to fight in the pacific. Prime Minister Curtin of Australia demanded to the US and the UK that its troops be sent back home from Europe, to face the oncoming threat of invasion by the Japanese. The UK agreed to do so, however, while the Australian troops were on the way back, Prime Minister Churchill of the UK ordered that they be diverted to Burma, as the UK and the US had first wished. Answera single point to the one on top of me. The other one on top of you mentions it was against the law to send conscripted soldiers to the other war fronts though you say it was against the law to bring the others back that's all AnswerThis was part of a posting that John Curtin issued in the Sydney Morning Herald 29th December 1941

"Without inhibitions of any kind, i make it quite clear that Australia looks to America free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom. We know ... that Australia can go and Britain can still hold on. We are, therefore, determined that Australia shall not go, we shall exert all our energies toward the shaping of a plan, with the United States as its keystone, which will give to our country some confidence of being able to hold out until the tide of battle swings against the enemy."

AnswerIt devistated our society and left our nation as a whole in grief. War was never to be glorified but sadly in this time period it was and many young corageous men were tragically lost. porridge

Answer 2

One major effect was that Australia found out that it could not rely on the UK for defense. During the war Australia built up its relationship with the US, a power that could guarantee (more or less) Australia's security. Australia also had a big hand in the war with its troops serving in Europe and the Pacific with distinction...regardless of what Douglas MacArthur thought. This gave the Australian people and government some confidence after the war and they took a bigger role in the affairs of their region since then.

Tha ladies were able to find heaps of jobs because during the world war they would have had to do stuff liek run shops and banks. They had to do that stuff because they were the only ones to do it. The women had a big role in the war and that was a big effect.

the major effects on Australia from World War 2 was that aus learnt to defend itself better than b4.it also created heaps and heaps of jobs so hardly any1 was left out.

Answer 3

Australia feared of formation of communist countries,

Huge housing shortage after returning from world war soldiers during the greate depression

Address a lack of construction

Increasing population

Keynesian economics

Role of federal govt.

Increasing recognition for the need of master plan for metoropolitan regions

The long-boom (1950s-1960s)

1950s

! Increasing population and increasing proportion of nation's pop. living in cities

! Emergence of metropolitan plans

! Housing: suburbanisation and slum clearance

! Role of technology (and faith in technology) > impact on transport

Answer 4

WWII had a big impact on women as they were able to take on important jobs on the homefront in the absence of men, who were all fighting overseas.Women were able to take on jobs such as cooks, stewardesses,transport drivers, signallers,coders,writers and motor mechanics, just to name a few!The Women's royal Australian Airforce,Women's Australian naval force, and the Women's Australian army service were all formed in 1941.At home, during the war, women made up 40% of the work force in munitions and factories. Australian also received many refugees from other countries s many people were left homeless after the war.

Answer 5

What was the social and cultural impact on Australia in World War 2?

Answer 6

It helped Australians realise that we are Australians not British living in Australia.